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I still have a few 2013 releases to catch up with, and I though I wanted to make my Oscar nominations predictions post having seen all of them, the nods are due early tomorrow morning so I’ll have to post them now.

My expectations heading into Beasts of the Southern Wild were sky-high. This film was this year’s darling at the Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered, getting glowing reviews and winning the Grand Jury Prize in the process. Then came Cannes, where it screened in the Un Certain Regard section, and from where it walked out having won the Caméra d’Or for director Behn Zeitlin, the award handed out at the prestigious fest for the best screened directorial debut, one that in the past has been awarded to the likes of Steve McQueen, Jim Jarmusch, Jafar Panahi and Miranda July. And then a couple of weeks ago it got a limited release theatrically, and the reviews were stunning, and it was a specialty box office success, too. Like I said, the expectations were sky-high.

Les Misérables is a bit too over-the-top and pompous, but it’s still seriously well-made, with a passion and energy that translates to the performances (with one critical omission) even if it doesn’t always do the same with the vocals. Read my review for it here.

Zero Dark Thirty, Kathryn Bigelow’s follow-up to The Hurt Locker is an undeniable masterpiece, a film that’s both disturbing and 100% necessary, the most vital film about post-9/11 America. Read my review for it here.